And the Answer Is…

exile_on_main_stPhishbills are being handed out on site confirming what many people believed. Sharon Jones will join them on vocals. Let’s see Phish reinvent the Stones…I’m down.

11.2 12:47 am

Tonight was a good as anything since the return. So great…What a weekend! So much to say….

3,599 Responses to “And the Answer Is…”

  1. joe Says:

    Interesting to hear that take on the accoustic set. I figured the timing of it would be well received as a nice re-entry into the world after Saturday Night’s festivities. I really enjoyed the accoustic set. I made a well timed exit at a family event for the 90 minute ride home. I have Sirius in my car and didn’t even mind getting caught in traffic with the Sunday Drivers on the road…
    the one question all non-attendees have is, how were the donughts?

  2. albert walker Says:

    Most people I know were still up from the night before and the hot sun and 90 degree weather I feel was clouding there ability to appreciate the set either way

    I had a full night’s sleep, weather could not have been hot enough since I’m coming back to chicago, and a nice breakfast and swim before rolling over

    two different experiences I guess

  3. DaNcInG fOoL Says:

    “am i yelling loud enough to make it on to the soundboard?!”

  4. Mr. Completely Says:

    @albert, that is fascinating about the acoustic set, all of the online reaction has been just ecstatic about it. I mean over the top positive. People are even loving it over on Phantasy, if you can believe it. Between the quality of the vocal performance, ensemble but especially Trey, and Page’s piano work I thought it was an unbelievable triumph.

    As for Exile, I was stunned. Stunned. They went right at their own biggest weakness as a band and crushed it. It’s as big a deal as them actually learning to be funky if not more so. I have never heard them play with as much unvarnished soul. Superlatives fail when trying to describe what a pivotal moment this is for them.

    Then they topped off the weekend with a legitimately top shelf final set of straight Phish music. Amazing.

    =====

    halfway through relistening to night 1, in analytical mode. Holds up well, just getting to the best parts now

  5. DaNcInG fOoL Says:

    how great were the vocals all weekend. especially during the stones and acoustic

  6. Mr. Completely Says:

    yep, someone earlier pointed out how much the improvement in vox helped out that Free, it was a good point

  7. albert walker Says:

    Fishman vocals

    knew we’d get the Richards sung Happy but Sweet Virginia was a pleasant surprise

    played them strait no schtick and hit them out of the park

    great sharing of vocal duties, everyone had some great numbers

  8. Mr. Completely Says:

    hehehehe so @albert you’re saying peeps were maybe a little too close to this to enjoy the acoustic set?
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/41323963@N04/4060670089/

    love the idea that some peeps who were onsite still maybe haven’t seen the w00k down

  9. albert walker Says:

    seems like I got 3 more nights of sleep than everyone else I know that was down there

    trouble with me seeing recovery shows, I feel like Trey just laying low

  10. albert walker Says:

    like any good California show it was properly flooded with the necesarry liquid refreshments
    very mellow and very tasty

  11. Mr. Completely Says:

    sounds to me like you’re in tune with the band’s vibe

    they were fucked up, you were fucked up, now they’re clean, or at least cleaner, so….

  12. halcyon Says:

    I still can’t come to terms with how powerful a musical experience Exile, and the other 7 sets were. It was the complete package. Exile absolutely floored me and those around me. It was as if I was in the Kleenex section it was that powerful.

    Re Acoustic Set … where I was people enjoyed themselves quite a bit, it was friggin hot, people were still tired from the night before, and added up to a mellow vibe.

    I really dug the fact that everyone laughed off (band included)the Reba miscue. It makes the band more human.

  13. Skyballs Saxscraper Says:

    Fucking awful day at work, Exile on Phish St. is an excellent cure-all.

    That, and I scored 2 Syracuse tix. It’s war at the War Memorial!

  14. c0wfunk Says:

    relistened to exile myself today – that is the real friggin deal. I really hadn’t even heard the stones version, though I knew some of the songs of course – … who is it that I can hear singin “shake your hips”? Robert Randolph? .. The gospelly stuff near the end is something you rarely hear from phish and they just knocked it out the box. In the moment I was pretty drunk and ecstatic and we were all chillin and everything, but listening back today while doing some work was just fantastic. And then hearing the third set, these guys really are liquid molten fire right now!

    So excited for charlottesville and miami

  15. c0wfunk Says:

    oh and of course I must mention the suzie g – “best ever”?? Maybe the one with the elvii of course but you rarely hear a suzie like that..

  16. Skyballs Saxscraper Says:

    Oh, one last thing that I don’t recall seeing:

    Stop Breaking Down is a tune I recognized immediately, despite never hearing Exile before in my life, before Saturday, that is. The reason? It’s a Robert Johnson song!

    In other words, Phish covered a cover. The only other song in Phish’s catalogue (off the top of my head) I can think of that has this relationship would be Also Sprach Zarathustra (Strauss > Deodato > Phish).

  17. Mr. Completely Says:

    Miner just posted a new one, but I say we keep posting here forever, push this fucker to 4k and beyond

    we can do this

  18. c0wfunk Says:

    hm – how bout jb goode didn’t hendrix do it like that before maybe?

    that’s all I got I think tho

  19. Mr. Completely Says:

    “Shake Your Hips” from Exile is also a cover of a cover (Slim Harpo)

  20. Mr. Completely Says:

    and of course as well all know, Crosseyed and Painless was originally an ABBA tune…I have to admit, the Heads did well with it

  21. Marshall Says:

    I was there and I loved the acoustic set. I also got 3 very good nights of sleep thanks to Robear’s hook-up with the Marmot tent.

  22. Neemor Says:

    “am i yelling loud enough to make it on to the soundboard?!”

    Hysterical.

  23. Corey Lareau Says:

    Well, after American Airlines messed up all our flights back to Boston yesterday (read: this morning at 7:15), it is good to be back home. And, whoa, it’s sunny ta boot.

    We had a great time out west, sorry that we didn’t get to the RV meet-up, but I’m sure we saw many of you, though not knowing it, throughout the festival.

    I gotta say, all the heavy drug use and nonstop smoking gets to be a bit much. Especially when all are so close together on the lawn. So much for environmentalism, eh? All that smoke going up in the air can’t be good. It’s tough to get away from, especially if you like to be down front (which I do.)

    Perhaps, when the stuff gets legalized, Phish could impose smoke stations, like in a Japanese airport. Perhaps there could be group smoking apparatus’ — w/o the smoke part. I see 50-hose smokeless hookahs in Phish’s concert future.

    Looking at that pic of the “wook down” is sad. And I’m tired of Chewbacca getting a bad name here. We need a better name than wookie. How about, drain on society, or, the only folks that come to see Phish, only not to see Phish? I am all for a party, but if you don’t even see/hear/feel what you “mainly” came down here to do, then you should go back to your hiding place.

    There. I’m off my soapbox now. Maybe a wook could use it, and clean off that dirty drug addicted grime that they bring to these spectacles.

    Over to Phish for a moment… How come the most vital drink was sadly underrepresented with stations? We had tons of beer stations, without any lines, and only a small handful of water stations, WITH BIG LONG lines (where I saw the same 3 folks handling everyone’s H2O needs the whole weekend.) Seems like this’ll be the next snafu analyzed by the Phish folk.

    Parking and Traffic were unbelievable. They figured it out this time. The lots and grounds were great and like your family room carpet – beautiful.

    Anyway, all in all, it was a grand affair. It was laidback, except when you had to get out of your tent at 4am and sprint to the port o potty.

    50 degree temperature swings were something to behold, weren’t they?
    Anyone know the tally there? Looked like it was well under 40,000.
    Certainly the ease with which we got into the festival and parked made it seem like not many showed up. I was also curious about Phish getting a guarantee vs. a cut of ticket sales for these shindigs. Anyone?

    OK, last question… what was your favorite costume that you saw?
    The robot, the traffic light, the cockroach, the jellyfish, the couple so committed that they walked into the place in a cardboard car for two?
    I did not dress, as I couldn’t figure out how to bring a Tab can costume on a plane. But I had big smiles watching all the others own theirs, dancing on the lawn.

    Discuss.
    By the way, anyone getting used to seeing/hearing Phish every couple months? It sure is fun. This could turn into a habit.

    See ya’ll in Cincy, Albany or Portland.

  24. tubependous Says:

    phish gets first money from contract…then house nut…then they all split extra based on negotiated percentage.

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